WILSON, N.C. --- The Golden Eagle baseball team kicked off a four-game set in North Carolina with a high-scoring contest against Glenville State, with Clarion falling by a 14-8 score to the Pioneers in their first game of the weekend.
The teams combined for 22 runs but only 10 total hits – five apiece for each side – as walks and errors played a big part in the final outcome. The teams combined for 29 walks drawn and seven errors in the nine-inning game. Two big innings – the second and fifth – provided just about all the offense the Pioneers needed, with the team scoring five and six runs respectively in those frames.
Clarion, meanwhile, did most of their damage late in the game. The Golden Eagles scored five of their eight runs in a comeback effort in the bottom of the ninth inning, They posted three hits in the inning, with all three coming in consecutive at-bats to spark the rally effort. Tyson Gill led off the inning by drawing a walk, and the trio of Scott McManamon, Kasey Shughart and Caden Contant each ripped off singles to eventually bring Gill across.
McManamon scored next on a wild pitch, and after Connor Booth drew a walk to load the bases, Nate Petke brought home another run when he was hit by a pitch. Tyler Meachum had a productive groundout to score Booth from third to cut the score to 14-7. Brycen Dinkfelt drew another bases loaded walk to make it 14-8, but the Pioneers were able to halt the rally with two straight outs – on the 10th and 11th batters of the inning – to end the threat.
Shughart went 2-for-3 at the plate with one run scored and an RBI, hitting an RBI single in the fifth inning to drive home Alfredo Hurtado and make it 12-2. McManamon went 1-for-4 with two runs scored.
Ethan Giangiulio got the start on the mound and allowed five runs – none earned – in 1.2 innings. Logan Hinds provided the most innings, going three innings in relief and allowing just one run.
The Pioneers touched up the Golden Eagles for five runs in the top of the second inning, taking advantage of a couple of errors to take the early lead. Meachum got one of those runs back in the home half of the inning, taking advantage of an errant throw to third base on a stolen base attempt and scoring to make it 5-1. Glenville State added a run in the fourth inning and six more in the fifth to take a 12-1 run, before the Golden Eagles got two of those runs back in the bottom of the fifth.
